Contents

Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG) in August 2000 entered the mobile content market in Japan with an agreement with NTT DoCoMo to launch the Disney-i content service.[3] In November 2003, WDIG and Index Corporation agreed to "develop and distribute Disney-branded mobile content for the Chinese market" and that Index would in conjunction with China Mobile to launch Disney Mobile service.[4] Disney Internet Group launched DisneyMobile.com in December 2003 as portal for Disney Mobile content.[5]

WDIG licensed Disney Mobile content to KPN, a prominent Dutch telecom firm starting in January 2004.[6] WDIG in March 2004 agreed to a licensing deal with Vodafone to provide Disney Mobile services in 14 countries: Australia, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.[7] Also in 2004, Disney re-activated the Starwave identity as Starwave Mobile, which publishes casual games for mobile phones for non-Disney brands with in Disney conglomerate or from third party.[8]

Sprint and Disney had previously launched a phone service for sports fans using content from Disney's sports channel, ESPN, branded Mobile ESPN.[9]

In September 2007, DMobile stopped signing up new wireless customers and discontinued the wireless service altogether on December 31, 2007. DMobile decided to shift its strategy by licensing its mobile suite, Family Center, and its content to other providers.[13] However in November 2007, Disney Japan and Softbank announced a wireless service joint venture, Disney Mobile, to be launched in 2008.[14]

In July 2010, Disney purchased Tapulous to increase available mobile expertise. In 2011, Bart Decrem of Tapulous was appointed general manager of DMobile.[2]

Launched September 22, 2011, Where's My Water?, a mobile game, starring Swampy the alligator - the first Disney original mobile character - for 20 days in October 2011 rivaled Angry Birds even becoming the top mobile game on the iTunes’ bestseller charts for a short time. This has led to a YouTube channel with a web series for Swampy. Also launched by DMobile in September was Puffle Launch, a mobile version of the game played on Club Penguin. Working with Spin Master, DMobile launched in October 2011 the first Disney Appmates game with Cars 2 toys that interact with an iPad screen.[2]

In the US, it operated on Sprint's CDMA network. Disney handled the administrative side and marketed the service to family subscribers.[10]

Disney Mobile's offering included Family Center suite, a multiple family-friendly applications to help parents manage their family's mobile phone experience. The innovative family monitor and call control features allowed parents to set spending limits and decide when the phone could and couldn't be used. The family locator service allowed parents to use GPS to locate the kid's phone. There was also a family alert feature that let the whole family send text messages to each other.[10][13]

Disney and Sprint had hoped that Disney Mobile content and applications would help drive demand for data services.[10]

In an already crowded US market, it makes sense for Disney Mobile to jump right into the quickly expanding Chinese market where they already enjoy good brand recognition which will only increase with the new Shanghai Disney park in the future. There are commercially released phones for China, but supports only GSM dual-band 900/1800 MHz, and 3G TD-SCDMA networks, doesn't work on US networks. It is an agreement between Disney Mobile and China Mobile.